Cat Star Chronicles: Renegade
by Deyna Ian Bloom
Summary: Ella lives a simple content life on Earth until she feels someone watching her. Lyon, a Zetithian, with no voice or memories, is drawn to Ella in a way he can't explain. Hunted by unknown enemies, the two must join together, or die.
1. Prologue

Lyonaprofahes stared in horror at his computer's long rang scanner. Where his home planet of Zetith should've been, there was nothing. He clicked a few buttons on his navigational system and it confirmed the coordinates. Zetith should be right where he left it, and yet….it wasn't. Lyon fought the overwhelming sense of confusion and loss that crept up on him and tried to think rationally.

His mother, sweet Armastateeon, had sent him on a trip to Behen a few months before, telling him that he needed the vacation. His vacation had been an odd request, considering that his planet was at war, but when Lyon tried to point that out, Armas would not hear of it. She practically forced him to go, handing him a small package that she said he wasn't to open until he was on his way back home, and only when he knew it was the right time. Lyon hadn't argued and had left on the small space cruiser that she'd bought him specifically for the trip.

His vacation on Behen had been nice and well needed, now that he thought about it. Armas and Lyon ran a fruit orchard, a rare thing on Zetith. Most fruit trees on Zetith grew wild and his people picked what they needed from them, therefore not needing something like an orchard to get their produce. But Armas had seen past that and decided one day that she would start a trading business with other planets. Lyon had been very young at the time and while he still couldn't explain his mother's need to branch out, it wasn't a bad living for them. Or hadn't been, he corrected. Several ships and planets had declared war on Zetith recently, and now Lyon and his mother provided food for the planets' armies.

The ship suddenly honked out red alert, flashing red lights and beeping noisily. Lyon's cat-like ears rang with displeasure, so he hurried to turn the loud noise off.

"Warning," the computer said in its pleasant tones. "Enemy vessel approaching." It might've been announcing the beginning of a party for how calm it sounded.

Lyon pushed his chair so it rolled across the floor of the ship's control room and examined what his battle station had picked up.

Nedwuts.

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. What were Nedwuts doing in this sector? And why was the ship freaking out about it? Suddenly the ship was hit by something, vibrating the steel walls and throwing Lyon onto the ground.

"Shield damage 60%. Hull integrity failing," the computer rang out again.

Lyon scrambled to the computer and steered the ship out of range. What the hell was going on? He quickly punched in a route that would hide him behind a nearby planet until the Nedwuts' vessel had left.

He wasn't so lucky.

The ship was knocked around again as it took another torpedo blow. Lyon couldn't hold onto the command panel and landed with a crushing thud against the wall.

The world went black.


	2. Ch1: Cat Lady

I shoved my trowel roughly into the ground, cursing as it rebounded and shook my wrist. With a frustrated scream, I tossed the tool over my shoulder and heard it hit the mesh wire of my garden fence. Stupid fucking dirt. I stuck my trowel in you and you should bend to my will, damn it! I yanked the large weed out of the ground, the one my tool should've gotten out for me, and am rewarded with several thorns imbedding themselves into my hand. I screamed again, this time in pain, and rolled over onto my back against the brick walkway.

I'm upset. Obviously. I have good reason to be. I thought that weeding my garden and tending my fruit trees would help me calm down, but boy was I wrong. The reason behind my frustration was simple. Love. What else would it be, right? I'd fallen in love with the man I thought was my perfect match and as usual, fate swiped the rug from underneath me, making me fall on my ass. Now good old fate was laughing its butt off at my pain and suffering.

My perfect match had left me, without a word, and claimed fervent love for my closest friend, who accepted his affections without one consideration to my feelings. They were now married and expecting a baby. They'd even had the balls to send me a picture of her newly rounded belly, which was why I was so upset.

Most girls dream of becoming a doctor or a space explorer or a rock star. They'll stand up in class when they're five years old and tell everyone what they want to be. A ballerina. A lawyer. A veterinarian. An artist. When I was five years old, I'd known exactly what I wanted to be.

A mother.

Yep, I was the crazy kid, barely old enough to not be a baby myself, and all I wanted was to have babies of my own. And so I waited. Pre-teen, I waited. Teenager, I waited. The year I'd been waiting for since I was a child was there, and I had nothing. Eighteen, and no babies. The years kept passing. And now I'd been waiting for twenty years since I was that five year old, and my dreams were still not coming true.

Everyone told me I had nothing to worry about, that I was still young and I had plenty of childbearing years ahead of me. Remember good old fate laughing at me? Well, he's been doing that my whole life. My mother had me when she was twenty-nine and even though she tried desperately, couldn't have another child. My aunts went through the same thing. I had five years left to fill my house with children and so far, I could see that it wasn't going to happen soon. And to add insult to injury, there was one tiny detail that kept me from even conceiving a baby. I was still a virgin. I couldn't even hold a man long enough to jump into bed with him. Besides, all of the ones who didn't mind fucking me, had made it clear that I wasn't the kind of woman they would want to impregnate and have a family with.

Needless to say, a picture of yet another pregnant friend wasn't very welcome. Apparently the male population only saw me as a piece of ass, while all of my friends were marriage and children material. I'd heard it said that in men's eyes there were two kinds of women: The kind they fuck and they kind they marry. I didn't even have to ask to know which category I was in. I suppose that's what happens when you have double D breasts and not only know you have sex appeal, you know how to use it too.

I swear I'm breaking the kneecaps of whoever is in charge of my fate.

A loud beeping noise sounded from my patio. My comlink. I ran my wrist across my forehead and find a few tears coming from my eyes, though I couldn't tell if they were from the pain in my hand, or the pain in my heart. I got up and grabbed my gardening bucket, while patting my legs to get the dirt off them. A few of my sunbathing kitties were disturbed when I opened my garden gate, so I patted their heads in apology.

My friends admonished me for preferring the company of my animals to people, but animals don't betray you and will always love you, even if you kick them in the ribs. A white Persian kitty was sitting next to my handheld comlink, so I petted her while I sat down in a patio chair and pressed the talk button.

My asshole friend Bryant popped up. I held in a groan. The only reason I talked to him is because he's normally the only one who's not too busy to remember my existence.

"Hey Bryant," I said with fake enthusiasm as I set the comlink on its stand on the table.

"Ella, you could at least sound like you're happy to see me. Honestly, I've taken time out of my busy schedule to speak to you."

I started to pick at the thorns in my hand. "How ever did I get so lucky," I mumbled. "What do you want, Bryant?"

His face was indignant. "I have to want something to talk to you? I can't just call you to see how you're doing?"

"Nope," I said with a wince as the first thorn comes out.

"What's wrong with your hand? Did you shake hands with a Wapotan?" He laughed. Wapotans were an alien lizard known for the extremely sharp points on their skin. I rolled my eyes and continued pulling at the prickles. "So, how's the harvest going?"

"Bryant, the trees aren't going to be ripe for another month, you know that," I said without looking at the screen.

"Aww," he whined. "Can't you make them hurry up? I want some peaches!"

"Do I look like a witch?" I asked sarcastically. A second thorn clinked onto the table. "Don't answer that," I added before he could be witty.

"Oh, die in a fire," he said before the screen went black. I started plucking on thorn number three while the white Persian started to cuddle with the comlink.

I owned a cat sanctuary. While I was growing up and waiting for babies to come, I discovered that cats make a nice substitute, so as I got older, that's what I decided to do with my life. I never sat down to count all of my kitties, but if I were guessing, I'd say I have around 50 of them, counting the five that are my personal pets and live in the house with me. When I opened my sanctuary, the city was nice enough to get me an animal sterilizer. One scan on the female kitties and they're sterile unless I scan them again to reverse it. Pretty nifty, huh? The tomcats don't think so, but they'll survive.

I got thorn four out, thankfully the last one, and jumped in my seat at the noise of my comlink hitting the ground. The white Persian licked her lips and started bathing like nothing had happened. I glared at her and picked up my now broken comlink. Perfect.

"Alright, Miss Kitty. You're in trouble," I said, while picking her up as well, and stomping over to my back door. It opened for me, the computer automatically knowing my hands are full, and I dumped the kitty onto the floor after the door closed. My house was mainly made up of full wall windowpanes, allowing me to see the beautiful countryside surrounding it. I had no neighbours, so I could've walked around stark naked and no one would've seen. I'd always been a private person, and living here was something like heaven. I tried not to enjoy it too much, seeing as how everything I started loving got stolen from me eventually.

The white Persian followed me into the kitchen, no doubt feeling a little weird at being inside a house for the first time. I tossed the broken comlink onto the counter and open the fridge for something to munch on.

"New feline companion. Please identify."

I looked up at the ceiling in confusion, and then remembered it's my new house computer talking. I'd saved for two years to get one because my friends wouldn't shut up about how much safer I would be with it. Although I had to admit, I loved the kitty door feature. It only allowed my personal pet kitties in and out of the house. I glanced down at the Persian, who was rubbing against my trashcan, and thought up a name to tell the computer.

"Computer, this is Jen. She'll be inside from now on." I didn't normally bring in new cats, but Jen had been following me around for awhile and she seemed like a nice kitty. I petted her head before making a roast beef sandwich for myself. My other five kitties smelled the food and came running, so I dashed outside before they could start begging, leaving the computer to deal with their meowing.

I was halfway through my sandwich when I spotted a cat fight about to break out. Rolling my eyes, I ran over to stop it and picked up the offensive kitty.

"Bad kitty, no fighting!" I said while I stroked his head. He growled in reluctant compliance. I decided to take him for a short walk through my small orchard, and by the time I start heading back, he's purring loudly and rubbing against my hand. Ella always turns her kitties around, I thought with a grin. I was almost to the patio but before I could set the tom down, he clawed me and jumped out of my arms. That was weird, I thought.

I picked up my plate without looking at it and felt around for my sandwich. It's gone! I checked the area for a guilty kitty, but all of the cats had moved to the shade, away from the house. Then I noticed my knocked over glass of lemonade. Also empty, and the table wasn't wet beside it. My head instantly darted to the forest near my house.

Something was there. I could feel it. I may not have been a smart person, but I could feel it when there was someone near me, even if I couldn't see them. My ears moved as I tried to pick up sounds, but all I heard were birds. Someone was there. Of that I was certain.


End file.
